What You’re Really Meant to Do: A Roadmap for Reaching Your Unique Potential
by Robert Steven Kaplan
“The key to achieving your aspirations lies not in ‘being a success’ but rather in working to reach your unique potential… Remember, lots of people will tell you what you should do and what you should want, but they don’t have to live your life. Chances are, moreover, that they’re not very happy with their own lives.”
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The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference
by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval
You may not be familiar with their names, but you are probably familiar with the authors’ work. They are the founding partners of the Kaplan Thaler Group, the advertising agency responsible for the Aflac duck campaign. One of them wrote the “I want to be a Toys R Us Kid” jingle earlier in her career. Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval previously wrote The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World With Kindness.
This book is about paying attention to little things which have a big impact.
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Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears
by Pema Chӧdrӧn
Pema Chӧdrӧn is a Buddhist nun. She writes about “unhooking” ourselves from negative thoughts and emotions.
She tells a story about a Native American grandfather who explains to his grandson the catalyst for violence and cruelty in the world. “He said it was as if two wolves were fighting in his heart. One wolf was vengeful and angry, and the other wolf was understanding and kind. The young man asked his grandfather which wolf would win the fight in his heart. And the grandfather answered, ‘The one that wins will be the one I choose to feed.’” The author explains that emotions have very short natural lifespan, but we extend that “by feeding it with an internal conversation about how another person is the source of our discomfort… This is a very ancient habit.”
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Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934-2021)
Good Business is about enjoyment of work and productivity. It is based on the author’s research on flow, the psychology of optimal experience.
Flow is “a deep sense of enjoyment.” To be fully engaged in a state of flow, one must be skilled and challenged. “Basically, the more a person feels skilled, the more her moods will improve; while the more challenges that are present, the more her attention will become focused and concentrated.”
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Strengths Finder 2.0
by Tom Rath
The premise of this book is that people are happiest and most productive when their work is well suited to their strengths. Conversely, many people pursue the “path of most resistance.” The book includes a code to access an online assessment which will identify your top five strengths.
“Gallup has surveyed more than 10 million people worldwide on the topic of employee engagement… People who do have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life in general.”
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Nonprofit Meetings, Minutes & Records: How to Run Your Nonprofit Corporation So You Don’t Run Into Trouble, Second Edition
by Anthony Mancuso
This book offers some good insights for anyone who serves on the board of a nonprofit organization, especially the board secretary. If the board of directors ignores its bylaws and state nonprofit laws, the organization could lose its tax-exempt status. Director liability is another concern.
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The New Rules of Marketing and PR, Fourth Edition
by David Meerman Scott
David Meerman Scott is an experienced marketing executive who says that interruption-based marketing techniques are ineffective. “I’ve done it the old way. It doesn’t work anymore.” Under the new rules, marketers publish their own content and speak directly with buyers.
“The Internet has made public relations public again… Your newsroom is for your buyers, not just the media… By building a media room that targets buyers, you will not only enhance those pages as a powerful marketing tool but also make a better media site for journalists.”
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Big Data Marketing: Engage Your Customers More Effectively and Drive Value
by Lisa Arthur
“Why don’t you know your customers better?” Lisa Arthur’s diagnosis: “Your data is fragmented.”
“Today’s marketers must engage buyers and prospects with conversations, solicit and act on customer feedback, and deliver experiences that are personalized, timely, and relevant.” Big data marketing makes this possible.
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The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization
by Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) et al
This book offers a strategic planning framework for nonprofit organizations. It can help board members set the direction by asking five questions.
What is our mission? The mission must reflect opportunities, competence, and commitment. Drucker cautions, “Never subordinate the mission in order to get money. If there are opportunities that threaten the integrity of the organization, you must say no.”
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Content Marketing: Think Like a Publisher—How to Use Content to Market Online and in Social Media
by Rebecca Lieb
“Instead of advertising, the shift is toward publishing… Companies are sharing: knowledge, expertise, and how-to. They know customers who might not have 30 seconds to spend on watching one of their ads might gladly surrender 30 minutes to dive into truly useful content.”
Continuing the ‘think like a publisher’ theme, an editorial calendar “ties that broader schedule together with specifics such as holidays, trade shows, company announcements, events (such as webinars), or new product launches… The editorial calendar also serves as an invaluable map for repurposing content.”
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The Key Point 